Marzana F Chowdhury FCCA hails from a family of accountants that helped her to understand the influence of the profession on business and society. In her interview this month, the executive director at RSM Bangladesh says that joining an international network has offered a wealth of opportunities for the local practice she joined as a young professional accountant to grow and gain a global outlook. Working collaboratively, she adds, plays to her strengths as a female leader.
Our practice section this month considers how practitioners in South Asia are moving beyond their roles as compliance providers to respond to client demands for advisory support in a dense regulatory environment. In our CPD article, we hear from regional SMPs on how providing strategic insights and risk intelligence makes them ideal business partners.
This month’s guest columnist – Saad Maniar, CEO of Baker Tilly UAE – says that resilience, positivity and commitment to innovation are key attributes that will steer the future of the Gulf region as it navigates a challenging geopolitical landscape. He underlines the strength of the UAE as a forward-looking hub and how the accountancy profession has a role to play in its ambitions.
We also hear from Naveed Ashraf FCCA, group finance director at Ghobash Group in the UAE, who describes his leadership as being about shared ownership, with the growth and success of his team giving him the greatest sense of pride and fulfilment.
As we celebrate Earth Day in April, we find out what it means to be a sustainable business, with insights from a new report from ACCA on how today’s corporate landscape has evolved and the tools needed to inform decisions and bring value to myriad stakeholders. We also get more advice for practitioners on how to be ISSA 5000-ready, as the new sustainability assurance standard requires careful professional judgement.
Finally, our careers section offers two practical articles for those in the midst of a career shift. Our short feature on coping with job ghosting has advice for when communications with a potential employer go silent, and we also find out why AI-enabled interviews are on the rise and what that means for hiring decisions.
